Blount is most simply put a very one dimensional back. He can't block and really can't catch. He utterly lacks explosiveness which limits him a lot. If he gets a head of steam he may be one of the hardest backs in the league to bring down, but he isn;t a legit starter.

We didn't use him much this season and honestly it's a bit of a shame. He has his uses, just not many.

Blount is most simply put a very one dimensional back. He can't block and really can't catch. He utterly lacks explosiveness which limits him a lot. If he gets a head of steam he may be one of the hardest backs in the league to bring down, but he isn;t a legit starter.

We didn't use him much this season and honestly it's a bit of a shame. He has his uses, just not many.

Pretty much this. He's a one-trick pony, and usually it takes him a few carries to get going, but he's so hard to bring down once he gets to the 2nd level._________________

He's bad at short yard situations, is burst is pretty awful and doesn't really find the hole consistently. It takes him awhile to get to the second level, but when he does he's deadly. When he gets to full speed against linebackers and especially DBs he's hard to tackle, very hard tackle. But takes him quite amount of carries to wear the D down and to start breaking tackles. Not much of a #2 back, because he can't just step in for a drive or two. Just not a natural receiver/blocker at all, which really limits the playbook. I remember the 2011 season Lumpkin got more PT then him due to the fact he limited the playbook so much.

I was not in a hurry to get rid of him this season due to the fact with how much Doug gets the ball we need a #2 back who could take #20 touches in case Martin got injured (Ware's a 3rd Down Back and Smith we haven't seen enough of), but if we found/have a solid #2 back I'd be fine with moving him. As a runner he has a lot positives/negatives against him, I think he's good enough there... but he's simply just not a good blocker/receiver and limits the playbook, which will keep him from being a #1 guy.

I will give him props though, despite barely playing this year. He had a good attitude and was always the first guy to congratulate his teammate, so seems to be maturing and buying into the system.

He's bad at short yard situations, is burst is pretty awful and doesn't really find the hole consistently. It takes him awhile to get to the second level, but when he does he's deadly. When he gets to full speed against linebackers and especially DBs he's hard to tackle, very hard tackle. But takes him quite amount of carries to wear the D down and to start breaking tackles. Not much of a #2 back, because he can't just step in for a drive or two. Just not a natural receiver/blocker at all, which really limits the playbook. I remember the 2011 season Lumpkin got more PT then him due to the fact he limited the playbook so much.

I was not in a hurry to get rid of him this season due to the fact with how much Doug gets the ball we need a #2 back who could take #20 touches in case Martin got injured (Ware's a 3rd Down Back and Smith we haven't seen enough of), but if we found/have a solid #2 back I'd be fine with moving him. As a runner he has a lot positives/negatives against him, I think he's good enough there... but he's simply just not a good blocker/receiver and limits the playbook, which will keep him from being a #1 guy.

I will give him props though, despite barely playing this year. He had a good attitude and was always the first guy to congratulate his teammate, so seems to be maturing and buying into the system.

I personally would like to see Michael Smith be bumped up to the 2nd string. I watched him in the preseason, and I was impressed. From what I heard, he was a pretty hard worker in camp too. He's a better complement for Doug, he's got blazing speed. Blount is just... meh. Other than being able to hurdle, what does he do that makes him of any value? Can't be a short yardage back, can't run with power, too slow to be the back he's trying to be, can't block, can't catch, etc.

I personally would like to see Michael Smith be bumped up to the 2nd string. I watched him in the preseason, and I was impressed. From what I heard, he was a pretty hard worker in camp too. He's a better complement for Doug, he's got blazing speed. Blount is just... meh. Other than being able to hurdle, what does he do that makes him of any value? Can't be a short yardage back, can't run with power, too slow to be the back he's trying to be, can't block, can't catch, etc.

Michael Smith all day erry day.

It would be pretty interesting to see Smith in a more involved role, though he needs to earn it this off-season. Can't make much of preseason stats, especially when they were half a year ago.

However, I'm a little thrown off by the analysis of Blount by some. That's fine if you want to say that he can't run with power consistently, because he can't. But to say he can't run with power at all is a little confusing, considering he's had a good amount of runs where he drags defenders or barrels people over. Again, you won't see him deliver punishing runs consistently like every other power back, but he can for sure bring the wood occasionally._________________

It would be pretty interesting to see Smith in a more involved role, though he needs to earn it this off-season. Can't make much of preseason stats, especially when they were half a year ago.

However, I'm a little thrown off by the analysis of Blount by some. That's fine if you want to say that he can't run with power consistently, because he can't. But to say he can't run with power at all is a little confusing, considering he's had a good amount of runs where he drags defenders or barrels people over. Again, you won't see him deliver punishing runs consistently like every other power back, but he can for sure bring the wood occasionally.

True, he did have some nice runs in 2010 and 2011, like that play against the Packers. But for every one time he does that, he'll dance around in the backfield and get stuffed about three times.
I'm not saying Smith should just be handed the job, but he certainly deserves a shot to earn it.